Gosh...can I relate!!! I have 10 unfinished projects. I seem to have too much "help" to get them done. But also, besides my lack of energy, its the toys, toys, toys.... The HUGE train set in the middle of my living room, and the mountain of toys. It just too much fun to see him enjoying it all. I think my house will be a mess for a little while long...maybe until hes about 10 :) I couldnt imagine what it would be like with twins!

You have a set of 5 year olds? How lucky you are. That is such an enchanting age, so inquisite, so compassionate, so interesting. My children are now grown and on their own, and I can now indulge my own OCD of everything in its place. But, my grandchildren, ages 4 and 7, just left after a 24 hour visit, and I said to my husband, "This house was just clean yesterday." Fingeprrints on the glass table, pencil and paper with his outlined hand on the coffee table, a pile of wet towels in the bathroom, you get the picture. I can't wait for the next visit.
You will have plenty of time later, and later comes way too soon.
Dee

BTW, to answer your actual question, I always just kept a couple of those big plastic tubs (rather my generations' version of them)in the living room to throw toys in. Not pretty, but better than clutter.

Banish oversized toys/play equipment to the kids' bedrooms or a dedicated play room you can close the door on at the end of the day. Consider hidden toy storage for the small stuff you want to remain available in the common area(s). Ottomans with hinged lids & stoarge inside, lined wicker baskets, canvas totes, closed cabinetry, Target has some great black and brown leather cube totes that fit on the shelf under my coffee table & the top of the table hides the contents, etc. Turn a largely unused coat closet nearby the common area into a dedicated storage unit for the kids' toys. I freaked at all the "stuff" that came with my son's birth nearly 6 years ago because I like my house just so and everything in its place. With persistence, creativity, and a little elbow grease, it CAN be done! The number one thing that's most important above all else though is teaching the kids the rules (that you must actually establish before you can teach them) about where things go, how to put them away properly, and when to put them away. Offer small rewards for doing it (might be a quarter, piece of candy, or even just verbal praise), consequences for not (time out, no dessert that night, sometimes a verbal statement of disappointment will even do the trick). Be consistent and they will learn and it will become second nature to them. Eventually, they'll be reminding YOU to pick up after yourself when you forget. Good luck!

Sometimes it is like trying to make a castle too close to the water. The tides in our house are 2 young boys, dh and sometimes me. I get one area squared away and then the one I did recently gets trashed.
Dh thinks the solution is to just throw things out, but the kids have not learned from that because they have too much stuff to worry about much being thrown out (I usually rescue the stuff and donate somewhere).
I do try to pare down whenever I can, but it is not easy. There is always another bday or Xmas when stuff comes in our house by the boatload thanks to bday parties and family. I am going to try to buy them fewer physical gifts and more experience type gifts (like tickets to events, skiing or amusement parks). The problem with that plan is they expect those things already and they seem not to be gifts for the individual.
When our house gets fixed up and the boxes of material for it all over the house are gone, and we have more space for storage, I plan on being even stricter about putting things in their place. I have been really working on consequences for non-compliance and am determined to housetrain all of us!
I have to admit slacking off a little in this house because it is so not pretty and so much has been waiting on the reno/extensions. I am getting more gung ho every day in anticipation of it starting next month and will finally be "bonding" with the house with every bit of progress we make. In the past 4 years it seemed like a waste of time to try to make it look good when it was soon to be worked on. Who knew it would turn into 4 years later? Certainly not us, lol. Next month, with variance in hand, the contractor will rip off the roof and the entire back of our house and we will be on our way... scared but so psyched ;)

creekylis, You deserve a pretty and calm place just for you with the work schedule you are dealing with.Maybe you can concentrate on the one place for you now that could be off limits?? Just a thought. Maybe they can only come in quietly with a cookie and cup of hot chocolate and be a special space.Not for play.

Then when you get recharged a little you might have some more energy to take on a larger space. And maybe the little ones will learn to respect one little space for a time and then maybe a larger space?? I do not have kids so really should not be giving advice.

Our (only) grandson is not yet 2. His parents didn't have him until they were almost 40, but my DIL has done a wonderful job of creating play areas in their LR & DR. In the LR there's a climbing/slide contraption on one wall, along w/changing table. The other side has a table for drawing, play doh, etc. Beside the couch is a shelf w/bakets to store things. In the DR there's a large train table and a beanbag area next to a short book shelf. He's really good about helping to put things away, but all that "stuff" is out there. Somehow it just all blends in, and he's one very happy boy. Fortunately the rooms are quite large. These years pass quickly. Shades of Idaho has some great ideas. You deserve a special spot to de-stress.

Oh Creek, hang in there and do what Blondepegasus suggests. Five years ago I was where you are now, but it seems like yesterday! =) Now that the 'lil buggers are older and a bit more safe it is the perfect time to begin moving their things out of sight. That is liberating and energizing in itself. You'll be amazed at how little they actually play with once you start sorting.

I so understand, believe me. My youngest just turned ten. He is a walking tornado, and all boy besides. Moving the toys was the start. I often would do my projects at night, staying up later than normal but in a way it was therapy, at least I was moving forward. It can be discouraging, VERY... toys, slop, mud, socks, wrappers, cars, rocks, sticks all still find their way into the house. But my painting is mainly done, the walls decorated, tweaks done here or there.

It happens in stages. I did the big visual stuff first. Painting,wall decor, furniture moving because it provided the biggest visual change AND little hands couldn't move/break/slobber on them too much. True despair would set in when I would come here and see beautiful tablescapes and vingettes, clean clutter free homes, and green lush plants tucked artfully in corners, all of which only would get messed and neglected in my "lived" in home. I gave up and concentrated on clean surfaces during the weekend and projects that could be done one step at a time. We still can't have a coffee table because it won't stay clean and I refuse to aggravate myself by pretending that "this time" it'll be different! ERRG! =)

What about the kids you ask? Often they would work or play on their own stuff while the living room was torn apart spread out with crafts on the floor, watching Spongebob on the couch shoved in the middle of the room, making forts under the dining room table. You can be sure that wherever you are they will want to be there too, but it was and still is some our best fun, we were together. I'd take the time to actually watch Spongebob, help with the fort, have lunch in the living room, and we'd do a lot of talking and listening, and dance and sing on different days. Fast forward us to now being 10 & 15 years old...they still come in and out, ask if I need help, offer feedback, perch on the couch filling me in on their thoughts, run through carrying a wet dog, make me watch really bad SyFy movies with them which entertains us for days.

I'm happy for you being ready to move on.It'll be a crazy, slow, frustrating, fun journey, but you will create some precious memories along the way. Moving the toys(most of them)will really motivate you. BTW I have real green plants this year for the first time since I found them turned over on the floor many years ago!!! =D

My baby just graduated from college. And it still seems like yesterday that we had a little tykes slide fort of my DS and DD Little Tykes kitchen set up in an area of the living room. Our furniture was new This End Up and we had wall to wall carpeting in a paprika color( yes this was the 80s)We were stylin'!
When DS was 1 we got the dark carpeting so stains wouldnt show, and the This End Up coffee table- markers and crayons sanded right off( not that we allowed them to run wild but sometimes over enthusiastic coloring gets off the paper.)
Anything breakable was displayed on the mantle. We didn't want a house of no's and it seemed like a natural way to be for us- there was something fun about having toys in the room- to us it said we were a family and no longer a couple.
So, my decorating didn't start until the kids were older.